ADVERTISEMENT

An Outsider Will Likely Lead The NSE After Chitra Ramkrishna’s Sudden Exit

Next NSE MD & CEO to be an outsider?



Pedestrians Walk in Front of the National Stock Exchange Building in Mumbai (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Pedestrians Walk in Front of the National Stock Exchange Building in Mumbai (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

India’s largest stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange India Ltd. (NSE) is looking at external candidates to appoint in the position of managing director and chief executive officer after the sudden departure of incumbent Chitra Ramkrishna, said an official at the exchange on the condition of anonymity.

The exchange has already constituted a search committee comprising Anand Mahindra and Usha Thorat as external members and Dinesh Kanabar and TV Mohandas Pai, both public interest directors on NSE’s board.

NSE has also appointed Egon Zehnder, an executive search firm to help identify prospective candidates, said the person quoted above. An advertisement inviting applications from suitable candidates is expected to be issued in the week of December 20.

While NSE has a strong existing talent pool, especially in the mid to senior levels of management, no one had been groomed to take over from Ramkrishna making for limited internal candidates for the top position. Hence the board and search committee are inclined to look to external candidates to fill the leadership position and the process is expected to be completed by January 30, 2017, the person stated.

Chitra Ramkrishna resigned from the position of managing director and chief executive officer of NSE on December 2 with immediate effect, citing personal reasons. The board appointed J Ravichandran, Group President at NSE, to hold charge of the office of CEO with immediate effect.

NSE is in the process of filing its maiden prospectus for an initial public offer (IPO). The exchange is expected to file a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in the next 10 days. The IPO will serve mostly as an exit for existing shareholders and is estimated to be Rs 10,000 crore in size.

BloombergQuint was not able to confirm this news with Egon Zehnder, while the NSE spokesperson said its too early to judge if the search committee will pick an outsider as the next CEO.